Founder of ‘Thenga’ Maria Kuriakose, gleams with pride while talking about the world she created for herself from coconut shells.
From her childhood, Maria Kuriakose, now a successful young entrepreneur hailing from Kerala, always dreamt of starting something of her own and have always been fascinated and curious about how products are created, how they are priced and many other aspects of it. So after pursuing her Master’s in Business administration from Spain and working in Mumbai for 4 years, Maria couldn’t wait to delve into the unknown and start her own company.
Keeping apart her ardent desire to create something new and unique, Maria has always been particular
about bringing changes in society in every little way possible. Even during her childhood, Maria had a genuine Interest in helping the society by bringing out something innovative out anything she does. Maria says that she had some knowledge regarding how to create a business and then take it forward through her MBA Program.
The idea behind ‘Thenga’ came up after she tried out different things until she realized her calling. In spite of coconuts being available in abundance in Kerala, Maria realized that only coconut oil was majorly used, and all other parts of the coconut were dumped and their shells burnt. That’s when Maria decided that she was going to use the waste that coconut oil manufacturing units were leaving behind into something useful.
Some of the difficulties Maria Kuriakose encountered had to do with the product; because it is a natural product, its size, form, and other characteristics are all distinctive. Customers distinguish things based on size and shape since they are accustomed to using a homogeneous set of goods. Consequently, they found it challenging to accept such differences. The fact that the product was natural, presented her with further difficulties, and as a result, they needed to stock up on the shells long ago to prevent any delay .
Target customers of Thenga are the customers in and outside India who are passionate about the eco – friendly products and wish to follow a sustainable way of living. Although all their products are handmade, Thenga products range between Rs.300-500 making to affordable to people belonging to all strata of the society.
Since the products are handmade and the lack of artisans availability outside India in particular make the product more demanding worldwide. Talking about what drives her forward, she says the idea that her products are like the best out of waste, and is creating a value to their customers along with promoting and helping artisans in Kerala by making themselves financially independent through her company.
There’s no certain thing that has been her inspiration to and within the entire journey, it was all her need and want to be an entrepreneur. Also, reading out about different entrepreneurs kept her motivated.
